The first consignment of phosphoric acid from Tunisian Indian Fertilisers (Tifert), a Tunisia-based venture of Coromandel International Limited (CIL), has arrived at Kakinada , where CIL’s complex fertilisers plant is located.
The Tifert vessel, which left La Skhira Port in Tunisia about a fortnight ago with 31,269 tonnes of phosphoric acid, arrived at Kakinada Port and delivered the CIL’s share of 12,498 tonnes.
It will leave on Thursday for Sikka Port on the west coast to deliver the remaining part of about 18,771 tonnes to Gujarat State Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (GSFC), the other Indian shareholder of Tifert. Phosphoric acid is a key raw material used in the manufacture of various grades of fertiliser.
Tifert, set up in La Skhira in Tunisia by CIL and GSFC, the partners from India and Groupe Chimique Tunisien (GCT) and Compagnie Des Phosphat De Gafsa (CPG), from Tunisia, (both being Government of Tunisia entities), was inaugurated on July 12, 2013.
CIL stated in a press release here on Wednesday that has made an investment in Tifert for securing uninterrupted supply of phosphoric acid for the company’s operations. The company and GSFC have entered into a long term agreement with the Tifert to import the entire production of phosphoric acid directly to India. CIL and GSFC hold 15% each in the share capital of Tifert.
source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Companies> News / by BS Reporter / Hyderabad – August 07th, 2013
Former Hyderabad batsman Mazhar Ali Baig, brother of Test cricketer Abbas Ali Baig, passed away in the city on Thursday.
A flamboyant batsman, Mazhar played 18 matches for Hyderabad between 1963 and 1967.
Mazhar was the first player from Hyderabad to be selected for the prestigious all-India schools team, in 1960. He was a batchmate of former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal, who played for Hyderabad before shifting to Pakistan.
Hyderabad cricket circles were saddened by Mazhar’s death. “I am very sad and shocked to hear about Majju bhai’s demise.
He was an extraordinary batsman, an agile fielder and an absolutely thorough gentleman,” said former Hyderabad batsman Sultan Saleem, who played alongside Mazhar.
“A fantastic player of fast bowling, he had the audacity to sweep Habeeb Khan, considered the fastest bowler in Hyderabad at that time. I also remember him hitting Jaisimha to the top of the Osmania University pavilion during a Behramud Dowla match — it was about a 150-yard six! I have good memories batting with him in the State Bank of India team’s middle order for about 20 years. We were involved in 70-75 good partnerships,” Saleem said of Mazhar.
Former India cricketer and Hyderabad Cricket Association president Arshad Ayub also paid tribute.
“I have not seen him play but have heard eminent players rate him very high,” Arshad said.
“They would say Mazhar Ali Baig was a great strokemaker and would easily negotiate the fastest of bowlers of that time,” Arshad added.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Sports> Cricket / by DC Correspondent / August 23rd, 2013
“I want to become World number one,” Sindhu had told IANS a couple of months ago. With her bronze medal in the World Badminton Championships, she has made a giant leap towards that goal.
Despite Saturday’s loss in the semifinal to Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, the 18-year-old Hyderabadi has won many hearts.
Her sterling victories over the defending champion Yihan Wang and Asian Games gold medallist Shixian Wang en route the last four may enable Sindhu, currently ranked 12th, to break into top 10.
Sindhu may be upset over the loss in the semifinal but her parents, both former volleyball players, are happy that she made the country proud by winning a medal.
She became the first Indian to win a women’s singles medal in the Worlds. Prakash Padukone won the men’s singles bronze in 1983 at Copenhagen while Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won another bronze in women’s doubles in the 2011 edition.
“The entire country was expecting her to win. She settled for a bronze but a medal is a medal. We are happy that she has won a medal for the country,” Sindhu’s proud father P. V. Ramana told IANS.
“This was her first appearance in the World Championship. She has achieved this at a very young age. We are confident she will do better in future,” said Ramana, an Arjuna awardee.
According to him, there was pressure on Sindhu while her opponent played very well. He, however, is elated that her daughter put up a scintillating show in the tournament.
He believes sincerity, dedication and simplicity are the secrets of Sindhu’s success. This five feet six inch tall sensation has come a long way since she started playing badminton at the age of eight.
Ramana feels having a coach like Pullela Gopichand, the support from Badminton Federation of India, Olympic Gold Quest and Universal Collectabillia, company jointly owned by ace cricketer Sachin Tendulkar encouraged her. The job provided by Bharat Petroleum, which has now also promised a promotion, also motivated the girl.
It was last year that Sindhu emerged as a giant-killer like Saina Nehwal when she won the Asian Youth (under-19) Championship. This coupled with the national title she bagged earlier that year gave her confidence to aim bigger.
Sindhu, who completed her class 12 last year, is the only player since the legendary Padukone to hold both junior and senior national titles. Sindhu, who turned 18 on July 5, has fast climbed the ladder of success thanks to her hard work and dedication.
Mohammed Ali was her first coach when she starting playing the game near her house in Secunderabad. She then started training at the Lal Bahadur Stadium and later moved to the Pullela Gopichand Academy.
“Playing badminton was my own interest. My dad didn’t force me to play volleyball or any other game. They left the choice to me and encouraged me a lot,” Sindhu had told IANS.
Ramana and his wife Vijaya made many sacrifices to groom her. As Gopichand Academy is located 27 km away from their house, her father always used to drop and take her back home.
The fact that both her parents are sportspersons greatly helped Sindhu. “We advised and guided her in many respects like how much rest she should take after the practice and how she can remain fit. This helped the child to come up,” said Ramana.
“We accompany her during the practice sessions and watch the movements her coach teaches. We ask her to keep on repeating those movements after she comes back home. If you are not a sportsperson you will not be able to tell all these things to your child. This gave her the motivation,” he added.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Sport / by IANS – Hyderabad / August 11th, 2013
Known for his innovative ethnic wear and colour palette, Hyderabad-based Anand Kabra has made it to the top league in the Indian fashion industry. Everyone, from Vidya Balan to Deepika Padukone and Madhuri Dixit has been favouring his styles of late.
Art of imperfection
The designer unveiled his new collection in Chennai store Collage. This collection is a medley of his previous lines Wabi Sabi, Taramati and Kumari. “We are still getting queries about these lines, so they have not lost their relevance. We have picked elements from each and revived them in a contemporary manner,” Kabra offers, adding that he enjoys “androgyny or borrowing the principles of menswear from the sherwani or angrakha and fusing them into Indian womenswear.” Keeping in mind the festive season, Kabra has used earthy colours “like mustards, kumkum, soft dusty pink and jewel tones like emerald green and ink blue, apart from his usual black and white.”
So expect buttoned and pre-pleated saris, streamlined kurtas and classic anarkalis, floor length angrakhas, lehenga, saris and embellished jackets, palazzos and quirky dhotis.
He is also bringing his latest Fall/ Winter’13/14 line, Wabi Sabi 2, where he presents perfection in imperfection. “It questions the rules of prettiness,” he explains, giving us an example. “We have taken a photographic print of the rose, with the focus on the stalk and used it in one of our creations. It’s beautiful. It is an entire collection of contrasts. Swarovski is used with mulmul. 3D zardozi is a new technique seen in this collection, apart from colour blocking, and transparency.” Anand Kabra collection is priced from ` 25,000 onwards.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Madhuwanti Saha – Hyderabad / August 13th, 2013
Kingdom of words: Chowmahalla Palace Library, Hyderabad. – Nagara Gopal
There is something about the quiescence and period ambience of the Chowmahalla Palace Library that is instantly charming. There are about 10,000 books and manuscripts in this admirable collection housed in old-world wooden cupboards and surrounded by carefully refurbished vintage furniture. The newly opened library is in Mahtab Mahal, one of the four palaces in the Chowmahalla complex at Khilwat in the Charminar area of Hyderabad.
Built over 200 years ago, the magnificent Chowmahalla was the seat of the Asaf Jahi dynasty and the venue where the Nizams entertained royal visitors and official guests. An amalgam of architectural styles and influences, the palace complex was carefully restored and opened to the public about eight years ago. The heritage building is now also available for private and corporate events.
Falaknuma library
The library is the latest attraction, rich with timeworn tomes sourced from the Asaf Jahi palaces in the city, including the Chiraan Palace, Nazri Bagh and, of course, Chowmahalla itself.
The Nizams loved literature and some of them were poets in their own right, including the first two Nizams, Mir Qamaruddin Khan and Mir Nizam Ali Khan, and the last two, Mir Mahbub Ali Khan and Mir Osman Ali Khan.
The books are in Urdu, Arabic, Persian and English. Some of them are nearly three centuries old. Besides works of history, geography, art and culture, poetry, Islamic law, medicine and philosophy, the repository has biographies, encyclopaedias and dictionaries.
An exquisite collection of rare Quran editions in calligraphy includes several that were received as birthday gifts by the seventh Nizam.
Of the nearly 300 Qurans in this library, 28 are being painstakingly restored for display in a special section.
There are priceless editions of the Quran in handmade paper, the text handwritten and embellished with gold, gems and pearls. Pointing to the richly-hued pages of one book, a member of the restoration team explains that the gold, red, blue and white colours come respectively from powders of gold, cinnebar, lapis lazuli and pearl.
Many of the English books are first editions from the UK. The bilingual dictionaries in the collection include English-Urdu, Persian-English and Persian-Urdu.
Vintage volumes such as Princes and Chiefs of India, View of Hindoostan, a set of Chambers Encyclopaedias, Glimpses of India, and Delhi Durbar are on view. A lot of hard work has gone into creating this library as many of the books were in a state of neglect, attacked by termites and wood-louse. The restorers did battle with missing pages and jackets, damaged pages and faded lettering. Mahtab Mahal itself needed some sprucing-up.
“The whole process took over six months… We have ensured attention to detail in the restoration and conservation of the books, and the setting up of the library,” says G. Kishan Rao, Director, Chowmahalla Palace. “This was all made possible by Princess Esra’s [Birgin] strong commitment and invaluable encouragement. We also used expert advice from academicians and professionals.”
The books were cleaned in a fumigation chamber and sent for binding — all the restoration work was done in-house.
The cataloguing was another time-consuming effort. “The books have been catalogued according to the US Library of Congress, which is a unique world resource,” says Rao.
Besides tourists and curious onlookers, the library with its rich and valuable trove is soon expected to attract bibliophiles, students and research scholars.
You may borrow a book to read on the premises, seated on the antique (renovated) furniture.
A Rs 100 fee is charged for use of the library, inclusive of the palace entry charge. Virtual visitors can go to www.chowmahalla.com .
source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Weekend Life / by Aruna Chandarajan
A Road-cum-River package tour from Hyderabad to Srisailam, through Nagarjunasagar dam and back to the city, has been introduced by the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Department Corporation (APTDC) every Monday and Thursday.
There are two special packages — the first one, is scheduled to depart Hyderabad around 8 am. After a three-hour drive to Nagarjunasagar and a short excursion at the dam, the cruise to Srisailam leaves at around 11 am.
The cruise is expected to arrive at Srisailam around 6 pm, covering the Nagarjunakonda museum, if time permits. After checking in for the night, covering Srisailam dam and Sakshi Ganapathi temple en route, the travelers will get a darshan at Srisailam at 8 pm. The next day the group will move to Mallela Thirtham and Farahabad wild life sanctuary towards Hyderabad and finally return to the city at around 8 pm.
The second package includes departure from the city at 8 am (Monday or Thursday) by road, arrival at Srisailam after covering Mallela Thirtham and Farahabad wildlife sanctuary at 2 pm. The batch will get a darshan at 8 pm at Srisailam.
The next morning the group will begin journey to Srisailam dam via Sakshi Ganapathi temple, then leave to Nagarjuna Sagar by cruise at 5 pm, covering Nagarjunakonda then leave for Hyderabad passing through Ettipotala waterfalls and dam.
According to the APTDC authorities, the tour tariff for adults is Rs 3,150/Child Rs 2,520 with Non A/C accommodation, transportation and food.
17 sriramsagar gates lifted
Nizamabad: 17 crest gates of Sriramsagar dam were lifted on Tuesday and flood waters released into the Godavari. According to project officials, heavy rains in catchment areas of Nizamabad, Adilabad districts and neighbouring Nanded district of Maharashtra resulted in huge inflows into river Godavari in the last few days.
Around 75,000 cusecs of inflows reached the project on Tuesday. Initially, the officials opened 5 gates and later increased it up to 17 gates and released the water into the river. Meanwhile, 6,000 cusec of water into Kakatiya canal, 500 cusecs into Saraswathi canal and 2,000 cusecs for flood flow canal is being released as outflow. Sriramsagar dam reached full reservoir level of 1,091 ft touching its gross storage of 90.31 tmc ft water on Tuesday.
source:http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / by DC / August 14th, 2013
Hyderabad-based Rainbow Hospitals, which primarily focuses on paediatric and maternal care, has raised $17.5 million (Rs 107.3 crore) from the UK-based development financial institution CDC Group Plc and Dubai-based private equity investor Abraaj Group for the sale of an undisclosed stake.
Rainbow, which started as a 60-bed hospital in 1999, currently runs six hospitals in the country. Four of these hospitals are based in Hyderabad while the other two are in Vijayawada and Bangalore.
The company plans to expand its number of beds from the current 450 to 1,000 by 2017. It will also look at expanding to Chennai, Pune, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool, among other cities.
“The patient investment approach taken by CDC and Abraaj gives us the space to focus on longer-term business quality and performance essential in multi-specialty paediatric care,” said Ramesh Kancharla, chairman and managing director of Rainbow Hospitals.
The hospital chain will also quadruple its workforce from the current 1,000 as it plans to increase its portfolio.
Rainbow Hospitals is the first direct investment in India by the CDC Group, which is a wholly owned development finance institution of the UK government’s Department for International Development.
CDC, which focused on fund-to-fund investment across Asia and Africa, changed its strategy to focus only on South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. It also announced that it would make debt and direct investments in these geographies as opposed to a limited partner’s role in private equity/venture capital funds.
“This is an exciting first direct equity investment in India for CDC. We will work closely with the company to give it the long-term capital and support it needs to build the business,” said Srini Nagarajan, CDC’s regional director for South Asia.
For Abraaj Group, the other private equity player investing in Rainbow Hospitals, this is the 28th investment in India. The PE player manages $7.5 billion across 25 sector-specific and country-specific funds, and invests in growth markets such as the South-east Asia, West Asia, Africa, Latin America and Central Asia.
“There is a pressing requirement in the Indian healthcare sector for paediatric healthcare infrastructure due to the demographics of the country, which witness high fertility, maternal and infant mortality rates,” Balaji Srinivas, managing director of Abraaj Group, said in a statement.
Last year, Abraaj Group acquired Aureos Capital, a global private equity fund management group investing in small and medium-sized enterprises across Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Indian healthcare services space, which forms more than 60 per cent of the healthcare sector in the country, has seen a high number of PE investments this year. Some of the recent deals include DEG investing $12.21 million in Ivy Hospitals, IFC and Standard Chartered investing over $46 million in Fortis Healthcare and Multiples Alternate Asset Management investing $33.15 million in Vikram Hospitals, among others.
source: http://www.in.reuters.com / Reuters / source: by VCCircle.com / Wednesday – August 14th, 2013
K. V. Raghavan (left), Chairman of Global Cancer Summit 2014, addressing a press conference in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Beside him is D. S. Bajaj , Secretary-General of Federation of Asian Biotech Associations. — P.V. Sivakumar / The Hindu
Hyderabad :
Open access publication group, OMICS Inc, the Federation of Asian Biotech Associations (FABA) and BioGenesis will be organising a global cancer summit in Hyderabad during September 16-18, 2014.
The conference, to be attended by medical professionals from across 35 countries would deliberate on the theme of recent advances in cancer diagnosis and therapy, Srinubabu Gedela, Chairman and CEO, OMICS told newspersons here on Wednesday.
K.V. Raghavan, Secretary-General, FABA said the federation was associated with the event as it would add significantly to the knowledge on treating cancer.
source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> News> National / The Hindu Bureau naga.gunturi@thehindu.co.in / Hyderabad, August 14th, 2013
Just over a year ago, Prem Watsa said Research in Motion , now re-named BlackBerry, was a “Canadian success story,” a good buy and a likely turnaround story, despite declining market share.
BlackBerry’s fortunes have only deteriorated since then, but Watsa, chief executive of top BlackBerry shareholder Fairfax Financial, is an old hand at looking wrong today and right tomorrow.
(Prem Watsa, chief executive…)
Fairfax, both an insurance holding company and Watsa’s investment vehicle, was on the losing end of bets against the market in the mid 2000s as Watsa waited for the US mortgage industry to collapse.
The company’s stock fell by 50% between mid-2003 and mid-2006 as Watsa’s purchases of credit default swaps flattened profits, while rivals feasted on a housing-fed bull market.
But when the market began to weaken in 2007, Fairfax began notching up investment gains, pulling in billion-dollar profits in 2007 and 2008. Then with markets still reeling and other investors licking their wounds, Watsa started to plow money back into equities, bringing another strong year in 2009.
Since their 2006 low of C$100, Fairfax’s shares have more than quadrupled, and the stock is up 100-fold over 28 years.
Indeed, Watsa had already shown his investment chops by selling stock ahead of the 1987 stock market crash and buying Japanese puts – or rights to sell stocks at guaranteed prices – ahead of the Tokyo market’s collapse in 1990.
Canada’s Buffet?
Often called Canada’s version of Warren Buffet , Watsa preaches a long view that suggests it may be too early to assess his decision to take on a leading 10 per cent stake in BlackBerry.
As it sits now, BlackBerry has not been a turnaround story under Watsa’s watch. Since January 2012, a period when Fairfax has raised its stake in the company from just over 2 per cent to just under 10 per cent, BlackBerry’s share price is down about 25 percent.
“Prem invests for the long term,” said Paul Holden, an analyst at CIBC World Markets who follows Fairfax. “He’s held his major stake now for what I would say is a fairly short period of time relative to his investment horizon, so I would say it’s probably too early to put any score on that investment.”
Watsa stepped down from the BlackBerry board on Monday, citing a potential conflict of interest, as the company said it was exploring the sale of itself and other options.
Holden said Fairfax, with a market capitalization of C$8.7 billion, would be too small to purchase BlackBerry outright. The smartphone maker has a market capitalization of C$5.8 billion.
But others said the signs that Watsa could be working behind the scenes were a positive.
“We have a lot of respect for the investment acumen and long-term track record Prem Watsa has established at Fairfax,” said Todd Johnson , a portfolio manager at Winnipeg-based BCV Financial, which owns Fairfax debt.
“Hearing the announcement from BlackBerry accompanied by Prem’s departure from the board should indicate something will happen this time on the strategic front.”
Low profile
Watsa, who was born in 1950 in Hyderabad, India, and trained as a chemical engineer, has a public profile that has at times bordered on the reclusive since he took over Fairfax in 1985. For his first 15 years at the company, he barely spoke to a reporter, and he only started holding investor conference calls in 2001.
Fairfax has generally not been known as an activist investor, but Watsa has not shied away from a fight, launching a $6 billion lawsuit against a group of hedge funds in 2006, accusing them of conspiring to the drive the company’s shares down so they could be shorted.
A short position enables an investor to profit when a stock drops.
To be sure, not all Watsa’s moves have been golden. Fairfax had to write off most its investment in Winnipeg-based media company Canwest in 2009 as the company filed for bankruptcy protection.
It also wrote down a significant investment in publisher Torstar in 2008-09 and took losses on its holding of forestry company Abitibi Bowater.
Speaking last year, Watsa suggested investors looking for a short-term rebound in BlackBerry might be disappointed.
“Is it going to turn around in three months, six months, nine months? No,” he told reporters. “But if you’re looking four, five years … We make investments over four or five years.”
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Tech> Tech News> Hardware> Invstment / by Reuters / August 14th, 2013
Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza notched up her third title of the season and 17th overall as she lifted the women’s doubles trophy at the WTA New Haven Open along with new partner Jie Zheng here.
Playing just their fourth event together, third seeds Sania and Jie pipped the second-seeded pair of Anabel Medina Garrigues and Katarina Srebotnik 6-3 6-4 in the summit clash.
Mirza and Zheng fell behind an early break but quickly got back and from 3-3 in the first set, they won six of the next seven games to capture the first set and take control of the second.
They did have a bit of trouble closing it out, as at 5-2 in the second set, Medina and Srebotnik won two games in a row and then got to deuce on Mirza’s serve before the Indo-Chinese duo finished off the triumph on their fifth match point.
“We didn’t start the tournament too well, winning a couple of what you might call ugly matches,” Mirza said. “But we kept getting better with each match. It was great to play our best match in the final.
“It’s tough with this format. It’s relentless. There’s really no margin of error with the deuce points, the super tie-break. It’s just a toss-up sometimes. Even today’s match was 63 64, but it was much tighter with the deuce points. The last set we won three deuce games.”
It was Sania’s fourth final of the year and 25th overall.
Sania, the only Indian woman to win a Grand Slam title, had won two titles this season before this triumph. Both the previous titles came with American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Sports> Tennis / by PTI / August 25th, 2013
